Month: September 2014

Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District Council has passed a motion calling on the Jobs Minister to come to Carrick-on-Suir, to see for himself the extent of the unemployment black-spots that exist in the town and in the surrounding areas.

Proposed by Cllr David Dunne (SF) on Thursday 25th September, the motion asks that Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Minister, Richard Bruton, come to the town and see for himself – at firsthand – the unemployment issues in the area. It is hoped this will draw attention to the lack of inward investment in the area, and raise the profile of the employment shortfall in the town.

“The Census figures for 2011, the most recent available, show that the Carrick-on-Suir area has an unemployment rate of 35%”, said Cllr Dunne.

“That unemployment rate is 15% ABOVE the national average, and 10% above other towns of similar size”.

The present concern is that the unemployment rate in the area generally is not improving, as it is in other parts of the state.

“Shockingly, as of August 2014 there is an increase in unemployment in the Carrick-on-Suir area over the figures for the preceding July”.

“The figures I have to hand show an increase in that period of just over 1% – that’s 22 more people signing on”, said Cllr Dunne.

He has expressed his concern that any improvements in the employment rate in the area may come from outward migration, as citizens move elsewhere – or emigrate – seeking employment.

Cllr Dunne and the Carrick-on-Suir council have both expressed concern that the IDA is not doing enough to alleviate the employment shortfall. They have therefore adopted his motion, and call for urgent action from the state to invest in growth in the area and for the Minister to visit and explain what he is doing for the unemployed of Carrick-on-Suir and surrounding areas.

Sinn Fein Deputy Leader Mary Lou McDonald TD has stated that Sinn Féin in government will scrap water charges. She added that the public already pay for water through general taxation and that it is deeply unfair to heap the charge onto the shoulders of ordinary people who have borne the cost of austerity.

The Dublin-Central TD was speaking at the launch of Sinn Fein’s vision for water services at which she was accompanied by both Brian Stanley TD and Cllr. Cathal King who is the Sinn Fein candidate for the upcoming by election in Dublin South-West.

Deputy McDonald said:

“Sinn Féin in government will reverse water charges. These charges will only cause further hardship for families already struggling to make ends meet.

“Bills for domestic water use will be issued from January in respect of the last quarter of this year. Effectively, the government will start double-charging households for water from the start of next month.

“The average charge will be around €280. It beggars belief that this Government thinks that people can absorb yet another stealth tax for what is an essential service.

“Water should be paid for through exchequer funding, non-domestic water charges, and the Local Government Fund. Sinn Fein would stop the roll-out of metering and invest in our water infrastructure by redirecting€539m from the national pension reserve fund towards a capital investment programme. This would include fixing the massive leakage problem and interruption to supply across the state.

Speaking on the Dublin South-West by-election, Deputy McDonald said:

“A vote for Cathal King is a vote for the only party that can deliver an end to water charging across the island.

“Water charges were proposed and agreed by Fianna Fáil and are now being implemented by Labour and Fine Gael. Sinn Féin blocked the introduction of water charges in the north. We will reverse the charges in government in the twenty-six counties.”

Cllr Catherine Carey of Sinn Féin has received confirmation from the National Transport Authority that Bus Eireann has sought to amend the licence for Expressway route #7.

This route services such areas as Ardfinnan, Ballyporeen, Clogheen and Clonmel in Co. Tipperary. The National Transport Authority has no legislative powers to refuse such changes.

Sinn Féin continues to liaise with concerned residents along the route, as Clonmel Sinn Féin isn’t viewing this just as a South Tipperary issue. Other centres affected by the route change include places like Castlecomer in KIlkenny, and Crettyard in Co. Laois.

Sinn Féin views this as an attack on rural Ireland generally, for the length of the route. If implemented the route amendments stand to contribute to rural isolation, and further damage already hard-pressed communities. Already over 1,300 names are on petitions seeking retention of the route.

For some of the population centres along route #7 this is the only publicly operated service linking them to the 1st and 2nd cities of our state. This route represents a critical link for those communities to the healthcare and education facilities taken for granted in Cork and Dublin.

Cllr Carey is concerned that the focus on the financial aspects of such routes misses completely the social cost of their removal. Bus Eireann is focused solely on commercial viability by switching routes on to motorways, built largely with public funds – including the taxes of those now to be by-passed.

Councillor Carey urges Bus Eireann to re-think their route changes, and calls on all public representatives and on concerned residents, readers and listeners to support the campaign to retain the route.

In recent weeks Cllr Catherine Carey learned that Bus Eireann intends removing services on some of it’s routes, including route #7 which services villages and towns in Co. Tipperary.

In Clogheen, local resident Tish Bruen-Durack started a petition against the closure of the bus service to that village. These petitions were given to Cllr Martin Lonergan.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin organised further petitions in Ardfinnan, Ballyporeen, and Clogheen, placing petitions in almost 20 businesses in those centres. In those centres Kevin Brunnick and Fachtna Roe of Sinn Féin distributed and collected scores of petitions, describing as “fantastic” the response of the local businesses in support of their communities.

As of now, over 600 names are on those petitions and the petition forms have been sent via the Sinn Féin Comhairle Ceantair mechanism to the Oireachtas, for the attention of Brian Stanley TD.

Other petitions have been gathered by volunteers, such as John O’Neill in Crettyard Co. Laois which is on the same route #7, which services Cork-Clonmel-Kilkenny-Dublin. He has tirelessly obtained over 700 names by himself, garnering support from bus passengers themselves.

As a timely reminder of the likelihood of losing bus services, Bus Eireann route #12 has already been axed since Sunday 14th September, leaving small population centres between Limerick and Dublin without a bus service. Familiar placenames such as Moneygall, Toomevara, Borris-in-Ossory are now without service as the buses now bypass those rural communities.

These services connect rural Ireland to the rest of the state, and to facilities cities and towns take for granted. Volunteers are still required to campaign for bus route #7 retention (contact pro@clonmelsinnfeinn.com), and readers are requested to lobby their councillors and TDs in support of these routes, as they often are the only means for patients to get to hospital appointments and for students to get to college.